By Will Horner 



  Global food prices rose for a second consecutive month in July as they continued to recover from a sharp slump driven by the coronavirus, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization said Thursday. 


  The UN FAO's monthly food price index--which tracks a basket of the most common foodstuffs such as grains, vegetable oils and meat--rose 1.2% in July to 94.2. 


  The rise marks a second monthly rise for food prices and suggests that the worst of the coronavirus's negative effect on food commodities has abated. Food prices, as measured by the FAO, fell for four consecutive months at the start of the year as food supply was slow to adjust to the pandemic's sharp hit to demand. 


  The rise in the overall index last month came largely from jumps in the price of vegetable oils and dairy. The FAO's vegetable oil price sub-index rose 7.6% thanks to a combination of supply disruptions and larger-than-expected import demand. 


  A sub-index tracking dairy prices rose 3.5% due to steadily rising demand in Asia and Europe, the FAO said. 


  Sugar prices rose 1.4% driven by rising energy prices and a drought in Thailand that threatened supply, while cereal prices rose a modest 0.4%, the FAO said. Meat prices were the only foodstuff tracked by the FAO to register a decline, falling 1.8%. 


  Write to Will Horner at william.horner@wsj.com